absurdとは

意味・読み方・使い方

発音

• (英国発音) IPA^(key): /əbˈzɜːd/
• (Received 発音) IPA^(key): /əbˈsɜːd/
• (米国発音) IPA^(key): /æbˈsɝd/, /æbˈzɝd/, /əbˈsɝd/, /əbˈzɝd/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /æbˈzɝd/
• 韻: -ɜː(r)d

形容詞

absurd (comparative absurder または more absurd, superlative absurdest または most absurd)

1. Contrary to reason or propriety; obviously and flatly opposed to manifest truth; inconsistent with the plain dictates of common sense; logically contradictory; nonsensical; ridiculous; silly. [First attested in the mid 16^th century.]^[3]
   • 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part I, V-iv

     This proffer is absurd and reasonless.

   • ca. 1710, Alexander Pope

     This phrase absurd to call a villain great

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 17, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     “Perhaps it is because I have been excommunicated. It's absurd, but I feel like the Jackdaw of Rheims.” ¶ She winced and bowed her head. Each time that he spoke flippantly of the Church he caused her pain.

   • 1979, Roger Hodgson (lyrics), “The Logical Song”, in Breakfast in America, performed by Supertramp:

     I know it sounds absurd / But please, tell me who I am

2. (obsolete) Inharmonious; dissonant. [Attested only in the early 17^th century.]^[3]
3. Having no rational or orderly relationship to people's lives; meaningless; lacking order or value.
   • 1968 March 2, Joseph Featherstone, “A New Kind of Schooling”, in The New Republic:

     Adults have condemned them to live in what must seem like an absurd universe.

4. Dealing with absurdism.

使用する際の注意点

• In the comparative and superlative degrees, the forms more absurd and most absurd are usually preferred over absurder, absurdest.
• Among the synonyms:
  • Irrational is the weakest, denoting that which is plainly inconsistent with the dictates of sound reason; as, an irrational course of life.
  • Foolish rises higher, and implies either a perversion of that faculty, or an absolute weakness or fatuity of mind; as, foolish enterprises.
  • Absurd rises still higher, denoting that which is plainly opposed to received notions of propriety and truth; as, an absurd man, project, opinion, story, argument, etc.
  • Preposterous rises still higher, and supposes an absolute inversion in the order of things; or, in plain terms, a "putting of the cart before the horse;" as, a preposterous suggestion, preposterous conduct, a preposterous regulation or law.

同意語

• foolish, irrational, ridiculous, preposterous, inconsistent, incongruous, ludicrous
• See also Thesaurus:absurd

派生語

• absurdly, absurdity
• Absurdistan

名詞

absurd (複数形 absurds)

1. (obsolete) An absurdity. [Attested from the early 17^th century until the mid 17^th century.]^[3]
2. (philosophy, often preceded by the) The opposition between the human search for meaning in life and the inability to find any; the state or condition in which man exists in an irrational universe and his life has no meaning outside of his existence. [First attested in English in the early 20^th century and first used in the mid-19^th century in Danish by Kierkegaard.]^[3][4]

派生語

• Theatre of the Absurd

参照

Further reading

• absurd in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• absurd in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911.

アナグラム

• Brauds, Burdas